


Watcher Knight

by Swine



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: AU in which Lurien actually has a personality, Canon-Typical Violence, Original Character(s), Other, Pre-Canon, Will update as story progresses - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 18:29:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19183342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swine/pseuds/Swine
Summary: While he was to be protecting the infection's epidemic from spreading throughout the kingdom, Lurien would need someone protecting his city in his absence. The King was able to supply him with the vessel fit for completing the job.It is so unfortunate that he had gotten too attached.





	Watcher Knight

In a line of desperate attempts to save a species doomed to fall, they were one of the first failures. In his scramble to find a child truly hollow, a feat deemed impossible by countless others, they were made.

The King. His pale body was stunning to most, donning robes of pure white that would nearly drag on the floor. A wyrm disguised as a bug. Rightly, many genuinely believed it was a sight to behold. Worshipped as a god, treated like a king, yet the arrogance that shone through the tone of his voice coupled with the way he held himself was clear to all; even the retainers. His actions alone were enough to demonstrate the power he held. But it was never enough.

He looked, at first, into the Abyss. Every inch of the area crawled with darkness impossible to bring light to. The darkness was too black to see anything down below. Not that he would ever care to go down there. It could have been yards upon yards of empty husks that would lay unmoving. It could have been miles upon miles of an abandoned area, of his own children both barely born and dead. It could have been completely empty. And yet, it was seemingly bottomless, the void-like obscurity stretching within the domain to its peak near the entrance. He truly hated this place.

In front of him stood a vessel. Its shell stood with a fixed point that curved upward almost mimicking that of a bull’s horns. It said nothing. It did nothing. In their silence, he so wished it felt nothing. Carefully, he reached out a hand. Admittedly, The King was never sure of what to do. Hundreds of children—no. To call it a child meant it deserved saving. To personify it meant that the countless others he had gone through, had tossed away, had personalities. Had thought. Had emotions. No, he would distance himself. It was better this way. Hundreds of vessels he had spoken to for only a moment, gazed at for just a second, analyzed with a quiet glance, and he never knew what the first step of the interaction was to be.

It was a shame, really, that its first emotion had been disgust.

In an instant, it swatted his hand away. It looked the same, yet there was a coldness to the stare it gave that he hadn’t noticed before. He could have sworn that the void that filled its cold shell began to seep out and fill the room, encasing the both of them in the darkness he was so afraid of, but with a blink, it had disappeared.

He had done this countless times. He had gone through hundreds of these empty vessels, that had just enough emotion to take away the straining hope that dwindled in both himself and the kingdom. It was the same as the others. It always was. Another pity. Another disappointment.

“Another failure?” No one was supposed to be here. He only slightly turned his head, daring a glance, in which stood Lurien, a man who’s home resided in the populated City of Tears. A man whose home was far from here. “Calm yourself, my dear king. I only come for a chat.”

“I close this area off with an intention,” His words were firm as he turned away to stare at the child—the vessel that gazed back. Neither of them had moved.

“You close it off to the citizens unbeknownst of your plan,” Lurien gave a peek at the vessel that stood in front of him. Despite its small stature, it stood fixed in place in front of the god-like being that’s magnificence was unparalleled, almost as if it dared to try and contest that of The Pale King. Lurien had almost risked a chuckle.

“I will not ask how you know,” He could already assume the Teacher had played a part in his knowledge. She seemed to always meddle in his affairs, hoping to get answers to questions that didn’t need asking. The King finally turned to face Lurien. “But instead ask why you’ve come here.”

“For a favor,”

“…A favor?”

“We three already know of what you shall do, once you have found a child of your choosing,” He nearly flinched but stood firm. He almost wanted to correct him. A vessel, he so desperately wanted to say. A small, barely noticeable mistake. “In preparation, I need someone to keep the city safe in my absence,” He hadn’t noticed the vessel that disappeared from his sight. It must have slipped past him. It walked toward Lurien with the same undermining coldness in its stare, attempting to walk past him as well. Lurien stretched out a hand to stop the small vessel from moving forward. It complied.

“…No,”

“No?”

“It would provide no use to you,” He lied. To have a barely empty husk wandering around his domain. He could perhaps accept it in death, but for now he would have his kingdom untarnished with the beings that so stubbornly held on to the little emotion that deemed them another vain attempt at saving his domain he worked so hard to create. “I can provide you with knights of your choosing.” He offered instead, refusing to look at the vessel that stared at him so intensely and intently. He could feel the hatred that was etched into its eyes. And he supposed it wasn’t completely in the wrong for feeling so.

“So, will you simply toss this one into the void like the others?” The King stood silent. The vessel stood as quiet as he. At this remark, he couldn’t respond. For a moment, he considered not answering. “Herrah had her wish. Even Monomon. I am not so much of a fool to do this without something in return,” The nail. The Teacher had dutifully requested a single nail of impressive caliber. To even give the nail to a high-ranking knight would be difficult due to its pristine metal and texts that were so eloquently etched onto its blade, let alone her apprentice. It was unheard of to gift such a thing to not only a bug of such a low-class but a scholar. A child. And yet he complied. He supposes he was thoughtless as to assume Lurien would be any different.

The vessel stood there in silence. As did he. He began to make way toward the exit, moving past both Lurien and the small vessel. He would not press Lurien as to why he was so adamant on keeping the vessel. He did not make another attempt to convince Lurien to think differently. Because if another child is what it took to save the kingdom, then he would so willingly provide.

Lurien interpreted his brooding silence as agreement. Once the king exited the room, he felt alone. The vessel stood in the room, and yet the darkness of the Abyss’ weighed down on him. Lurien gazed long into the vessel’s eyes, the emptiness of its stare seemingly taking the shape of the void itself. The vessel gazed back.

* * *

They were quiet, Lurien noticed. Which was, in his opinion, a very obvious observation as they clearly had no mouth. They said nothing and showed no way of knowing how to communicate. So instead of pointlessly making attempts at small talk, they traversed to the city in silence. He needed an assistant of sorts, like Monomon, before he would inevitably perish. He had time. Plenty of it. He would just need to play his cards right until the hourglass’s last grain of sand would drop.

It was no secret that he spent most of his time in his little spire that sat at the top of the city, watching over the fragile citizens that would periodically come to him for aid and assistance. To any simple-minded bug outside of the kingdom, he figures it may sound a bit off-putting. But it was his job. It was his duty to protect the citizens of the City of Rain. Not only was he ordered to by the King himself, but he had come to care for each and every townsperson who had lived in the area, albeit of high rank or citizens of low-class. So, he would protect them until he inevitably reached his deathbed.

They had slowly made their way to the city, passing citizens who had given Lurien a small greeting or a bow of the head, and the little vessel a puzzled glance. He didn’t care if the vessel had little emotion. All he needed was a being who would answer his every order and complete it with no question. He supposes he wouldn’t get a single question out of the vessel. After all, it didn’t much care for small-talk.

They reached the City of Tears, where dozens of citizens wandered its streets with colorful umbrellas. Rain poured from the Blue Lake above, dancing on the ground and filling into the drains that poured into the waterways below. Water dripped down the vessel’s shell as they walked. They made no effort to cover themselves from the rain that pattered against their head. Not that Lurien did either. As they began to reach the spire, he encountered a nobleman coming his way.

“Lurien,” He said with a quick bow of his head.

“Anything the matter?” He asked. The vessel stopped along with him, staring directly at the bug that shrank in their gaze. Lurien almost found their habit to stare at everything with their intense glare amusing. He could not determine whether they were trying to be intimidating, or if they were simply curious about the bug that stood before them.

“No, nothing of the, erm, sorts,” He attempted to ignore the vessel that continued its fixed glare. “You’ve just been gone for a bit. I suppose people had just started to worry,” Lurien shook his head at the notion.

“No worries needed,” He said. The vessel tore their eyes away from the nervous bug and instead looked up at the sky, perhaps to see where the rain had been coming from. Once a couple of scarce droplets trickled into their sockets, they shook their head quickly as to get the water out, reflexively grabbing onto Lurien's robe in the process. He had hoped they did not dislike the rain as much as they did the Pale King. “I must be going now. Do call if you need anything.”

“I shall. Good to know you were okay!” He added as Lurien made his way towards his spire. Strange to think that so many people wondered about him. He didn’t think he was gone for that long—if only a couple of hours? At the same time, he could not last remember when he had left his spire for more than a couple of minutes. Was he starting to turn into a hermit? As he walked into the elevator that led to his room and stood with the vessel, he gave an annoyed huff. No, he thought, I am in a perfect social state at this point in time, and it was unbecoming of me to think as such. He began to reach the top. He could suppose the countless days spent alone in his room would, in fact, be a bit worrying.

Unlocking the door, he walked into his room, which seemed a bit more orderly than usual. He last left it with books strewn around the room, unopened letters on his desk. When he returned, papers were stacked in a neat pile on his small little table. The books he had been reading were gone, presumedly put back on the bookshelf he never bothered to reorganize. He could even notice the small bit of rust that started to accumulate on his telescope was gone.

“Sir!” Said his butler from the window. He carried a duster, seemingly ready to busy himself with the next errand he could think of. He’s done very impressive work over the years, cleaning up after Lurien who always seemed to make a mess in his research and caretaking. “Ah you—I mean, sir,” He corrected himself quickly.

“You’ve been busy,” Lurien commented. His vessel began to glare at his butler, their small hands still clutching his fabric. Unsettled, the butler glanced back.

"You, er,” The butler looked troubled. “What have you got there, sir?” Lurien looked at the key he used to unlock the door.

“A key,” He said as he waved the item in his hand. The butler paused.

“I see,” He dropped the question. The vessel moved toward him in an instant, keeping their transfixed gaze on the bug. He seemed almost tempted to back away. “…Hello there.” Clearly unnerved, the butler was unsure of what to do. Neither was Lurien, if he were to be honest. All the vessel knew how to do was stare. They looked at him, up and down, and finally tore their eyes away from the butler and moved around the room.

“You were referring to them?”

 “Very clearly, sir,” The vessel placed a hand on the window that stood on the far right on the room but flinched at its cold touch. So instead, they sat on the floor and simply watched the rain slowly travel down and listened to the water patter against the glass. “Although I have a few questions, I cannot say it is any of my business.” It very much was, but Lurien wasn’t one to have those kinds of exchanges. 

“I will be gone come a few months,” He watched the vessel. “Or years. It all depends on variables to which I have no knowledge of.” His butler shifted uncomfortably in place, turning to watch the child as well.

“Am I not doing a good enough job, sir?”

“Don’t say things like that,” Lurien quickly retorted. “You’re simply not the fighting type. I needed someone to wield a nail. For our citizen's sake.”

"We have knights, do we not?"

"It's very different than that," They stood in silence for a moment, the only sound was the rhythm of the rain hitting the window.

“…But I… What exactly… _are_ they?” Lurien paused. He was unsure of how to answer his question. He knew the answer, but how to answer it was a mystery. And he supposed it would remain a mystery.

“Do not trouble yourself with all the details,” Lurien slowly made his way to the telescope that watched over the citizens. “I will take care of the… child. You have done a good job in my absence. Take care to rest a moment.” The butler looked at the vessel once more before exiting the room without another word. Lurien didn’t reach his telescope. He instead looked at the vessel. They still sat in front of the window, watching over the other half of the town. He supposes that, in a way, they were already doing their job.

“…Vessel,” They turned their head slightly to indicate that they were listening. “You should know that every person in this city needs protecting. Every citizen. Every bug who enters under the roof of the city. They will learn to come to you for aid. In time, I hope you will realize the importance of your duties as well as the reason I had saved you from your murky death in the Abyss.” The vessel stood still for a moment, before turning their head to watch the rain for a bit longer.

Was it fair, Lurien thought, to pull one child from death to serve an eternal duty? It was a question that rang throughout his mind. He was doing the right thing. It was for his city. At least now, he could safely say he understood his dear King’s plight.

**Author's Note:**

> AU in which Lurien raised a single vessel as the Watcher Knight instead of a bunch of Watcher Knights that protected his seal. I've had this idea for a bit, so I figure I should just write it down!  
> My tumblr in case you want to talk about HK: https://peepuss.tumblr.com/


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